DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION
VOLUME 1, NUMBER 2
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006
WEDO Fights Bush Cronyism at the UN
By Anique HallidayPresident Bush continued his abuse of power when he sidestepped the Senate—the same tactic he used to make John Bolton the U.S. Ambassador to the UN—to appoint Ellen Sauerbrey as head of the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM). Bush resorted to a backdoor appointment in the face of a strong campaign mounted by WEDO and other U.S. women’s organizations, which garnered enough organizational support and media attention to stall her nomination in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
As head of the PRM, Ellen Sauerbrey will be responsible for handling international crises, managing refugee and resettlement programs, and negotiating multilateral cooperation as well as having an evidence-based grasp of the reproductive health needs of women and adolescents worldwide. But Sauerbrey, a clear example of Bush cronyism, lacks experience in the areas of refugees and migration and will undoubtedly threaten women’s reproductive rights worldwide.
Throughout her tenure as U.S. representative to the UN Commission on the Status of Women, Sauerbrey opposed efforts to strengthen multilateral cooperation at the United Nations. Moreover, she was often openly hostile in debates on women’s human rights and reproductive health and rights including family planning and maternal and child health, a stand which does not auger well for women since they constitute the majority of refugees and clients of family planning services worldwide.
WEDO and its partners are outraged at the Bush Administration’s cronyism and commit to carefully reviewing Sauerbrey’s agenda and actions throughout her tenure as Assistant Secretary of PRM. We are also broadening our campaign to push for the new U.S. Ambassador to the CSW to be selected based on a track record of commitment to women’s human rights. Click here for more details